National Taiwan Normal University - International Programs

International Programs

Internationally NTNU is best known for its Mandarin Training Center (formerly known as the Center for Chinese Language and Cultural Studies), a program founded in 1956 for the study of Mandarin Chinese by foreign students. The Mandarin Training Center represents one of the world's oldest and most distinguished programs for language study, attracting more than a thousand students from over sixty countries to Taiwan each year and making the Shida area of Taipei one of the city's most cosmopolitan. Courses in language, literature, calligraphy, art and martial arts are offered in a series of three-month terms throughout the year, enabling international students to undertake language studies during summer breaks and within single semesters. The center also sponsors travel, hosts speech contests, and stages workshops and performances for a variety of East Asian arts. A Mandarin Training Center Alumni Association (MTCAA) has been operating since 1998.

Other international highlights recently at NTNU include the International Chemistry Olympiad hosted by the university in 2005 and the merger of NTNU with the University Preparatory School for Overseas Chinese Students in 2006.

NTNU nurtures a robust system of partnerships to enable this level of international study. Among the institutions that enjoy sister relationships with NTNU are the Universidade de Sao Paulo in Brazil, La Universidad Nacional de Asuncion in Paraguay, Georgetown University, Johns Hopkins University, Ohio State University, Pennsylvania State University, Radford University, Rutgers University, San Diego State University, San Francisco State University, University of California - Los Angeles, University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign, University of Iowa and University of Pittsburgh in the US, the University of Alberta, University of British Columbia and Simon Fraser University in Canada, the University of Glasgow and University of London in the UK, the Denis Diderot University and University of Poitiers in France, University of Bonn and University of Heidelberg in Germany, the Vienna University of Music and Performing Arts in Austria, the RSM Erasmus University in the Netherlands, the Nicolaus Copernicus University in Poland, and the Babes-Bolyai University in Romania, to name a few. NTNU's connections in the Asia-Pacific region are particularly extensive, including dozens of academic institutions representing South Korea, Japan, Singapore, Thailand, Vietnam, Australia, and New Zealand.